Windamere Dam Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The Cudgegong River storage near Mudgee: golden perch by the thousand, cod in the timber and clear water that made the lake’s name, with a Bureau gauge at the wall.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
548.49 m299,177 ML
Air / High
16 °C / 25 °C
Wind
ENE 1 km/h
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology gauge 421148, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Windamere Dam is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. The gauge reads 548.49 m, easing 0.21 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 0 km/h, rising pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 26 °C. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Murray cod
Slow
Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 26 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
New South Wales requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$7.00. New South Wales fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing murray cod here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Murray cod page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Windamere Dam today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:47), sunset (17:58), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Bureau of Meteorology station 421148 (WINDAMERE DAM).
Storage level, last 30 days
Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online, station 421148. Latest reading 2026-09-24 21:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp16 °C
High / Low25 °C / 12 °C
WindENE 1 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure1028.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 6%
Sunrise / Sunset05:47 / 17:58
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Windamere Dam
The best day on Windamere Dam this week looks like Wednesday 30 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Wednesday, 30 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 05:47 to 17:58
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Partly cloudy, 13 km/h
- Rain chance
- 6%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Windamere Dam: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Murray cod
December to August; closed September to November
Closed now Reopens 1 Dec 2026. Closed 1 September to 30 November in all waters except Blowering and Copeton dams. Rule as read from DPIRD NSW on 2026-09-23.
The giant of the inland rivers and the big lakes (Hume, Mulwala, Eildon). A snag fish that eats big lures, and a species with a closed season across the Murray-Darling. Slow it down: heavier spinnerbaits, slow-rolled swimbaits and bait on the bottom next to the deep snags.
Golden perch
Best: November to April
Yellowbelly. The bread-and-butter native of the Murray-Darling lakes and rivers; loves warm water, structure and a lure worked slowly past its nose. Slower. Work the deeper timber and the drop-offs with vibes and bait.
When to come: the Windamere Dam calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Murray cod
Golden perch
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 13 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Windamere Dam today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 24 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Golden perch led the card at fair. High of 23 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Golden perch led the card at good. High of 18 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by DPIRD NSW and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the New South Wales licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, A$7 for three days at the cheapest, applies, per the New South Wales licence page on this site.
About this water
Windamere Dam is a lake in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Windamere Dam: the full guide
The lake
Windamere Dam sits on the Cudgegong River south of Mudgee, a deep, clear storage in sandstone and grazing country that Water NSW runs for the Cudgegong Valley and Burrendong below it, with a foreshore camping area, a ramp and a reputation for golden perch that once brought anglers from across the state. The lake fills slowly and holds its water for years, so its level chart moves less than the northern storages; the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauge at the dam supplies the reading and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Golden perch made Windamere famous and are still the fish: on the rocky points, the drowned timber and the drop-offs from spring through autumn, trolled with deep divers and cast with lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits and plastics, and taken on shrimp and yabbies from the bank. Murray cod are stocked and fish the timber in the warm months, closed from 1 September to 30 November under the New South Wales rule computed on the species card; silver perch may be kept because Windamere is on the DPIRD exempt list; catfish feed in summer; and redfin school in the bays through winter. Carp are present.
Where to fish it
The foreshore camping area and the wall end give bank access to deep water, and the perch come within reach of the bank at dawn and dusk in the warm months; a boat opens the timbered arms and the long rocky shorelines, where trolling the drop-offs finds the schools. The clear water rewards lighter leaders and longer casts than the muddy northern lakes.
Reading the report
The water temperature estimate, labelled as an estimate, is the switch: the perch feed from the warm band up and shut down in the cold, and the calendar shows October to April as the season. The chart shows the slow draw-down, and the wind row decides the launch because the main basin is exposed. Pressure matters for the summer cod, a falling barometer before a storm being the bite.
Licence, access and rules
The NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, A$7 for three days at the cheapest, applies, per the New South Wales licence page on this site. The camping area and the ramp are open; DPIRD publishes the limits, the cod closure and the exempt impoundment list, linked in the sources.
Common questions
Is Windamere still good for golden perch?
Yes, from spring to autumn on the points, the timber and the drop-offs; the species card rates the month and the clear water asks for lighter gear.
Do I need a licence at Windamere?
Yes: the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days.
Is fishing good at Windamere Dam right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Storage and river readings
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online, station 421148 — WINDAMERE DAM
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.